There have been a number of different structures devised for providing a hand tool such as a screwdriver, chisel or socket wrench with interchangeable elements which are stored on the tool when not in use. Most such tools, however, lack any provision for releasing a single element for use without disturbing others.
Tools which do not suffer from the foregoing disadvantage include those of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,114,401, 3,667,518, 3,683,984, and my recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,356. The screwdriver of U.S. Pat. No. 3,114,401 has two blades with double-ended shanks each one of which may be inserted into a socket with either end portion of the blade extending out of the socket for use and the other end portion housed within the socket, and the socket in turn is reversible in a handle and has double-ended blades at both ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,518 discloses a screwdriver which has several interchangeable blades to be selectively mounted in a socket at one end of the handle, and each blade which is not in use is stored in a shallow longitudinal recess in the handle with an O-ring surrounding the handle in a circumferential groove to retain all the stored blades in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,984 discloses a hand tool in which extra blades are stored in longitudinal grooves in the handle, with one end of each blade seated in a socket at an end of the groove and the other end of the blade bearing against a compression spring in an opposed socket at the opposite end of the groove. A blade must be moved endwise against the bias of the compression spring to free it from the groove, after which it may be moved radially out of the groove.
My U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,356 discloses a socket wrench in which socket storage means stores a half dozen sockets in a line in such a way that each of the stored sockets may be removed without moving any other socket in the storage means.
Each of the above described prior art devices has some objections which it is the object of the present invention to eliminate.